Tag: News Approved

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Opinion: America is worrying about fertility again. But it’s not really about families

America is worried about fertility rates — again.

Coverage of the country’s declining birth rate reflects widespread unease: Families are struggling, young adults are delaying or forgoing parenthood, and the future labor force feels uncertain. These concerns are rooted in real social and economic challenges. Childcare is unaffordable, housing is out of reach for many, health care access is precarious, and paid parental leave is still not guaranteed. Only now, as these pressures have produced sustained fertility declines, have calls for expanded material supports gained real political traction.

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STAT+: Her daughter Mila got a bespoke medicine. Now she’s starting a new biotech to make more

ROME — Julia Vitarello, whose daughter Mila eight years ago received a bespoke medicine designed for her particular disease-causing mutation, said this week that she is in the process of starting a new company to try to create these individualized therapies at scale.

Vitarello’s previous effort, called EveryONE Medicines, recently folded in part because new Food and Drug Administration guidance encouraging the development of customized therapies did not go far enough in creating a pathway to satisfy EveryONE’s investors, Vitarello said. 

Now Vitarello and collaborators are looking for new funders. 

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‘Forever chemicals’ in baby formula? Scientists unpack FDA results

The big takeaway from a new government survey of infant formula is that the U.S. supply is largely safe. But experts and health officials say there are still steps that can be taken to make a product consumed by two-thirds of infants in the U.S. even safer.

One noteworthy finding from the Food and Drug Administration’s testing of 312 formula samples concerned per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” The FDA detected five PFAS in the samples it tested, with the most common one — PFOS — found in half of all samples. Of those samples, the vast majority (95%) contained less than 2.9 parts per trillion (ppt) of PFOS. 

What, exactly, does that mean? The FDA analysis doesn’t explain the PFAS results in much detail. But parents are bound to wonder, given that higher levels of exposure to PFAS, man-made chemicals used in products like nonstick cookware and stain-resistant clothing and rugs, have been linked to conditions including higher cholesterol, kidney and testicular cancer, and reduced vaccine efficacy. 

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Opinion: The psychedelic revolution is leaving behind people of color

Flanked by one of psychedelics’ biggest celebrity cheerleaders, Joe Rogan, and a troupe of MAHA loyalists, President Trump recently signed an executive order aimed at accelerating psychedelic access for clinical research and treatment.

Use of naturally occurring and synthetic hallucinogens traces back to the Neanderthals. Yet these substances have long been a pariah in mainstream medicine, written off as “club drugs” with little to no clinical value (or worse, downright negative effects).

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Synaptic Mechanisms of Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation in Depression

Conditions: Major Depression

Interventions: Drug: D-Cycloserine (DCS); Device: Continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS); Device: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Sham; Drug: Memantine; Drug: Lorazepam (drug); Drug: Baclofen; Drug: Placebo

Sponsors: Mclean Hospital; National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Recruiting
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STAT+: OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma set to dissolve after judge approves its criminal sentence

NEWARK, N.J. — OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is set to be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on the public good by the week’s end, as a massive legal settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits takes effect.

A federal judge on Tuesday delivered a criminal sentence to the company to resolve a Department of Justice probe — a last necessary step to clear the way for the settlement.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo made her decision after listening to hours of impact statements from people who lost loved ones or struggled with addiction themselves and requested she reject the negotiated sentence. While she didn’t go that far, she said she sympathized with people who bore the brunt of an epidemic linked to more than 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999.

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